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UNITED NATIONS CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Microfinance |
Issue 4 / July - August 2004 |
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Links New publications and web sites for your information: Islamic Finance is offering a new publication that services the Islamic financing community around the globe. Its intent is to offer brief but valuable information and news that affect Islamic banking. Instead of charging a fee, the free newsletter asks that the reader simply share its content with five other people involved in financial services. The first two issues, available at www.islamicfinance.de/ provide short accounts of the latest Islamic financial news in various countries. Stories included mergers and bank branch openings as well as information about and a sign-up sheet for an Islamic Finance Summit in Germany. In an effort to answer all microcredit questions for donor agencies, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) has launched a new website, www.cgapdirect.org, the Donor Information Resource Center (DIRECTConnect). CGAP designed to disseminate useful information for young and growing microfinance institutions. CGAP already answers many general questions about microfinance for those in the industry; however for more specific and difficult questions, experts in all areas of microcredit have volunteered to share their skills via DIRECTConnect’s “Knowledge Maps” available on the site. The Knowledge Maps provide a topic-by-topic discussion of many of the major aspects of microfinance and provide a more in-depth knowledge base than CGAP has offered before and offer contacts with many of the field’s leading professionals.The Asian Development Bank
has just released a new book titled "Commercialization of Microfinance:
Perspectives from South and Southeast Asia", authored by Stephanie
Charitonenko, Anita Campion and Nimal A. Fernando. This book is based on a regional
study on commercialization of microfinance that covered four countries: Bangladesh,
Indonesia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka. The book also includes observations on
the industry's developments in other countries in the region and in Latin America.
The book highlights different perspectives on commercialization of microfinance,
identifies issues and challenges relating to commercialization, and recommends
a range of approaches to promote the process of commercialization. The Book
is available for $10.00 from the Publications Unit. Among the greatest hindrances to the exponentially growing microfinance industry are interest rate ceilings in developing countries. CGAP Donor Brief #18, “The Impact of Interest Rate Ceilings on Microfinance” argues that while many are confounded by the notion that high interest rates on loans to poor people are essential to the survival of microfinance institutions (MFIs), they are necessary to make MFIs sustainable. They enable them to cover costs, give out more loans, and adopt newer and more up-to-date services over time. The brief offers insight and discusses alternatives to interest rate ceilings for developing countries. According to the brief, laws and policies can be enacted that accomplish the same goals as interest rate caps and does not impede microfinance’s success. With two articles already published in this newsletter on laying a foundation for economic growth in post-conflict settings, another resource on the topic is the Post-Conflict Microfinance Project: http://www.postconflictmicrofinance.org. This website is a DFID funded project (with collaboration from Concern Worldwide and The Springfield Centre for Business in Development) aimed at improving the awareness, skills and knowledge available to implement successful post-conflict microfinance projects for the poor. Case study countries include, Cambodia, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Angola. In a study sponsored by the Water and Sanitation Program called Financing Small Water Supply and Sanitation Service Providers: Exploring the Microfinance Option in Sub-Saharan Africa, Meera Mehta and Kameel Virjee examine the nexus of two industries in an effort to raise public awareness about their role in society as well as the effect microfinance has on the adequate delivery of clean water. The two authors explain why greater access to financial services through increased outreach of microcredit institutions will eventually result in better living conditions for communities in the developing world. As microfinance gradually makes its way into mainstream financial practices, small water service and sanitation service providers are beginning to play larger roles in the economies of Sub-Saharan African developing nations. They observe the influence government has on water and sanitation services by enacting laws and policies that either promote or hinder access to credit.The new Africa Development Bank FINESSE Africa newsletter discusses the importance of providing adequate energy resources to poor nations in Africa. The newsletter aims to share information, knowledge, experiences and practices that promote giving poor people access to forms of renewable energy. The Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Unit (PSDU) of the African Development Bank sponsors the publication. The ADB invites all article submissions that deal with renewable energy to be e-mailed to finesse@afdb.org. |
